


Wild Blue-Hared Boy

by chase_the_fox007



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Cute Teddy Lupin, Emotions, Gen, HP - Freeform, Harry Potter - Freeform, Harry Potter Next Gen, Harry Potter Next Generation, Hogwarts, Hufflepuff, Lupin - Freeform, Marauders, Metamorphmagus, Next Gen, Next Generation, No Smut, POV Teddy Lupin, Teddy Lupin - Freeform, andromeda tonks - Freeform, remus lupin - Freeform, the marauders are mentioned in this yes
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-05
Updated: 2017-06-04
Packaged: 2018-11-09 05:39:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,662
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11098047
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/chase_the_fox007/pseuds/chase_the_fox007
Summary: Short stories about Teddy Lupin's time at Hogwarts





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Quick note: capitalization/spelling mistakes in the letters at the beginning of chapters aren't always mistakes. After all, witches/wizards don't exactly learn reading/writing/grammar at school and Teddy is 11 in the first chapter "^^
> 
> As with most things I write, this is kind of half-beta'd by myself so I do apologize for mistakes!
> 
> I've been meaning to write this for ages but procrastination. I figured if I started uploading it it'd give me more incentive to continue~

**_31st August 2009_ **

**_age 11_ **

**_waxing gibbous moon_ **

 

_To mum and dad,_

_so summer's nearly over and I finally get to go to Hogwarts! I've been waiting for this for forever, Harry said he and Ginny were both on the quidditch team when they were there and I've been practicing on the nimbus brooms in Harry and Ginny's broomshed at the bottom of the garden. I've fallen off a few times but i didn't want them to worry so I never actually told them. I just said I fell over when I fell off into some rosebushes that one time and cut my arm but I don't think Harry believed me. he didn't say anything though so i dont think he really minds much, as long as i don't break anything (brooms and bones)._

_Gran took me down to diagon alley last week to get my school stuff. I've only been a couple of times before but I never got to buy things before (other than an ice cream from fortescues a few times, but Gran wouldn't buy me any spell books until I actually started learning magic). We went into gringotts and the goblins were a bit creepy but I can't believe gran never told me you left me some money! I felt all rich and gran let me buy my spellbooks all on my own and helped me pick out this really nice quill when I went to get that and some ink and parchment. I wanted to get the peacock feather one and the vanishing ink but she said I'd probably spill it everywhere because I'm a clutz so I should wait til I'm older to get special stuff. I didn't have enough money for a broom but that's okay, I'm going to save up my pocket money for one but I can still use Harry and Ginny's while I'm here anyway. And Harry says they have brooms at school anyway. I was going to get an owl too but then there was this really really furry cat in the ~~menijer~~   ~~menajery~~ menagerie _ _that really liked me and wouldn't leave me alone. So Myron came home with me and he's been following me around Gran's house and the Potter's house when I visit with him. The kids like him so far I think, and he liked them back until James pulled his tail. I didn't know what to call him at first but then Ginny suggested the name Myron and I kind of liked it, I don't know where she got it from though. His fur is really soft and Gran said he shouldn't sleep on the bed with me but I couldn't make him sleep on the floor, that's mean. Plus his purring is relaxing._

_James and Albus and Lily are all so tiny, they need attention all the time so I feel a bit sorry for Harry and Ginny. They both look so tired but they still invite me over a lot which is nice of them. And Ginny's parents and brothers visit them a lot so they're usually not on their own, and Hermione and Ron come over sometimes too. I fell asleep on the settee the other week though and James had left this giant spider thing on my stomach and I swear I nearly had a heart attack. Harry said it was probably an accident but he didn't see James laughing at me like a maniac when I screamed and hit my head on the coffee table when I fell off the settee. My hair turned this nasty green colour, I'm not even going to say what James said it looked like. I love James but four year olds are gross. I wasn't like that when I was four._

_Gran and Harry are taking me to kings cross tomorrow to get the train to Hogwarts. I'm excited but sort of worried. What if no one likes me? Gran said I should try and keep my hair and eyes a normal colour so I don't stand out as much, so I made it the same brown as hers and my eyes brown too. Hopefully no one thinks I look too boring. I was going to make myself taller but gran caught me and told me off. I hate being short but apparently I have to wait for my growth spurt, whenever that happens._

_Ginny and Harry were both in gryffindor and so were Ron and Hermione so I sort of hope I'm there. I know you were too, dad. Gran was in slytherin and even though Ron seems to hate that house I don't think it'll be too bad if I'm there. I don't think I'm clever enough for ravenclaw from what I've heard though and I don't know much about hufflepuff. I know you were there, mum, so I suppose that'll be good too. I'm just hoping I manage to make friends and that I'm good at the classes, really. I'm so nervous I feel sick but I think that's a good thing. I guess it's just because I've never been away from home for so long, and no one else is going to hogwarts yet. i'll miss everyone loads._

_It's half past eleven now so I'm going to go or gran will shout at me for not being in bed. Plus Myron looks like he wants to attack my lamp._

_Goodnight. I love you._

_Teddy x_

* * *

Teddy Lupin had never thought this day would really come. He had looked forward to it for years – though of course, when one looks forward to something, said event usually seems to approach slower and slower, and at one point Teddy had wondered if he would ever be here at all. But now here he was, wearing a slightly oversized sweater and jeans, with messy brown curls and wide eyes of the same shade, on Platform Nine and Three Quarters. He clutched his trunk and a cat carrier, standing between his grandmother and godfather and trying to ignore the fact that several people had turned to look – more like stare – at Harry. The platform wasn't quite as crowded as he had expected - there were still a lot of students, but he had been expecting the platform to be full of people.

 

     “Feeling alright, Teddy?” Came Harry's voice, emerald eyes glinting softly behind his glasses. Teddy had told him he didn't have to come; he had three very young children at home after all, and the small boy felt a bad on Ginny. But the man had insisted on seeing his godson off, so Teddy hadn’t been able to argue. He gave a small nod, attempting a smile. He was ecstatic, really – just sickeningly nervous was all. Teddy had been around wizards and witches and magic his whole life, but when he thought about it he realised that he didn’t actually know anyone who was going to Hogwarts this year. The people he knew were all family, and Harry’s children, as well as Ron and Hermione’s, were all too young to go to Hogwarts. Even Bill and Fleur’s oldest daughter, Victoire, wouldn’t be starting school until next year.

 

     “Hey, it’s okay,” Harry reassured the boy. “You’ll make friends quickly, you’re going to love it.”

 

     "Yeah.." Teddy's voice sounded too small to his own ears, but Harry still heard. Andromeda sighed, dark eyes scanning the platform.

 

     "Not as many students this year," she muttered. Harry looked at her, smile fading, and he gave a sombre nod.

 

     "Hogwarts is still regaining its footing from the war," he replied quietly. Teddy wondered if they thought he couldn't hear them. Or maybe they just knew he didn't need to be sheltered as much as most eleven year olds. "A lot of people stopped sending their children. The place holds a lot of bad memories, I can't say I blame them."

 

     "Yes, but there's also that.. I mean, so many of them were just..." Andromeda trailed off, frowning. But Harry knew what she was thinking. So many children had been lost in the war - the number of students probably wouldn't be what it had once been, even if everyone _did_  send their children to Hogwarts. Teddy looked at his feet before his gran spoke again, her voice lighter if a little strained.

 

     "Do you have everything, Teddy dear?" She asked. He looked up at her to see her fond smile, dark eyes crinkling at the edges despite her brow pinched in concern. "I'll post anything if you've forgotten, just send me an owl to let me know, alright?"

 

     Teddy gave a jerky nod and returned her smile. "Mhm! Don't worry Gran, I'll write you loads. You'll be sick of me soon," he assured her. Teddy loved Andromeda; she did more for him than he could have ever asked for, and although he did enjoy staying at his godfather's house a lot, he still loved his grandmother to pieces. With his parents gone, he knew how hard things could be on her. He saw the sadness she tried to hide from him, the emptiness in her eyes when she thought he wasn't looking or the nights when she would cry silently in the living room, thinking he was asleep. The thought of leaving her alone for the whole school year worried Teddy, but he knew she was strong enough to be okay.

 

     "Just be good," she said, raising her eyebrows sternly, though she was still smiling. "I don't want any letters home saying you've been breaking rules."

 

     "I would never!" Teddy assured her, though his smile was maybe a little too bright to be believable. Harry chuckled.

 

     "Alright, it's nearly eleven mate," he said. "You get going, and be careful, alright?" He grinned, and Teddy nodded.

 

     "I will! Don't worry about me. I love you both, and give Jamie, Albie and Lily hugs from me, okay? And Rose and Hugo too when they come up next." Harry shook his head fondly.

 

     "I will, don't you worry," he assured the boy. Teddy hugged his gran and godfather clumsily, trying to keep hold of the cat carrier as he did, and received a kiss on the head from Andromeda before grabbing his trunk again. The two of them watched him get on the train, and it took Teddy a few minutes to find an empty compartment. He grinned at them out of the window and waved as the train set off, steam billowing out onto the platform.

 

     Teddy waved until the platform was out of sight, and until his godfather and grandmother were shrouded in steam from the train, invisible.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Teddy finds the Shrieking Shack

 

**_21st September 2010_ **

**_age 12_ **

**_waxing gibbous moon_ **

 

_To Mum and Dad,_

_I haven't written in about two months so prepare for a slightly longer letter than usual. everything's going good at school! So far I'm not being suffocated by homework and I haven't gotten detention once! Well, this year. Though it's not even a month into the term yet. I know I promised gran I wouldn't get into trouble last year, and then I crashed that deathday party? Well I know that technically wasn't the problem, but it's not my fault for wanting to give the ghosts some edible food. Not that they can eat food, I guess, but the house elves in the kitchens were perfectly happy to make that cake! (And I was perfectly happy to get to eat it). I know Peeves is a poltergeist and being annoying is kind of his thing, but he really didn't have to yell that I was out of bed with stolen food. I got thirty points taken from Hufflepuff, I swear my house hated me for like a week! (Ok maybe not hate but they weren't impressed okay, no one offered to help me with any of my homework for a while afterwards). And I didn't even get to eat the cake after all that._

_Victoire's started Hogwarts this year, she got sorted into Ravenclaw which is cool, I'm kind of glad to finally have someone who feels like family at school with me. Their common room's up in one of the towers, you have to answer a riddle to get in. What if you never get the answer though? Do you just stay out in the corridor forever? I'm glad the Hufflepuff common room is so easy to get into. Then again, you get sprayed with vinegar if you get the wand tapping rhythm wrong, so I guess that's sort of intimidating. But it's also pretty funny to watch when it happens to other people._

_Summer was pretty good too! James and Albus have their own little brooms now (of course), and James likes to try to play Quidditch with me (it's not really proper Quidditch, I'm not allowed to enchant anything to be a ~~bluj~~ bludger and hit any of them or Harry and Ginny might kill me. And we don't have a snitch either, so we just play with an old quaffle.) I sort of wish the kids were older so we could all play properly, but for now I have to deal with only flying about five inches off the ground, or Albus gets angry that I can fly higher than him. _

_Ginny's started taking James (and sometimes Albus) to her Quidditch games, which is cool. When Harry isn't working he goes too and takes Lily, and I went to watch her play a couple of weeks ago, it was awesome! But I hurt my throat from cheering too hard. I think Ron was conflicted since it was against The Chudley Canons, but I saw him celebrating when the Harpies won. I wish you could have seen it, we had a party afterward and it was awesome!_

_You know, sometimes I feel like I don't know you guys. I mean, I know I don't, but when I don't think too hard it's easy to pretend like I do. Like we have things in common, or that I can imagine conversations we might have. I wonder if I'll ever stop learning new things about you guys? In the last couple of days of the summer holidays, Harry gave me this bit of parchment. He invited me into his office and everything, all secret. Said it was called the ~~Maro~~   ~~marord~~ Marauders Map, said you'd made it at school with your mates, dad. And Harry's dad helped make it, too. He said since he wasn't at Hogwarts anymore he didn't really have much use for it, so I should put it to some good use (but not to tell Ginny or Gran I had it). He also gave me this cloak, it's silvery and makes you invisible, it's amazing! Apparently it belonged to Harry's dad, he sounds like he was really cool. I mean, not as cool as you, dad, but still up there._

_Harry told me how to open the map and everything, but later on when I was bored and poking at it with my wand, writing came up. Asked me who I was, and stuff. And I told it, and moony - that's you, right dad? You spoke to me. Well, I guess it wasn't really you, but it felt like it. I miss you so much it hurts, both of you. I know that's probably silly, since you have to know someone to miss them, but I still miss you. Especially when I'm at hogwarts, and I'm not surrounded by family all the time, and everyone's going on about their parents and getting letters from them. And especially since I made friends with Alice, and Professor Longbottom is her dad so she sees him everyday. But I'm still proud to be your son, and I wouldn't want to be anyone else's. Even if it means not being able to see you._

_Did I ever mention that Ginny named Myron after Myron Wagtail? Like, the lead singer of The Weird Sisters? trust Ginny to name my cat after a singer without telling me, I need to listen to their music now otherwise I'll look like a poser for having a cat named after one of the members. I feel like this is Ginny's way of forcing someone else to be a fan of her music, because I think James started crying last time she put on one of their albums. It was actually really funny._

_The Marauders Map is seriously cool, I've already found some shortcuts to my classes, as well as a tunnel under that statue of the one-eyed witch that leads all the way to honeydukes! I might have brought back a stash of chocolate, you can't blame me okay it's really good._

_Other than finding secret passages and all that, I've been sneaking out most nights, with this cloak. Not really for anything specific, but I like going down to the quidditch grounds, or sitting down by the lake and watching the giant squid. There's the whomping willow too, but I tend not to get too close to that. I guess I just like being outside, under the moon. I like the moon. I suppose you guys hated it, didn't you? Sorry._

_It's nearly midnight, I'm gonna be a zombie tomorrow if I don't get sleep. Love you!_

_Teddy x_

* * *

The September air was cold and brisk, and the grass crunched underfoot as Teddy made his way across the grounds. He was sure it would be too dark for anyone to see him out here, but he kept Harry's cloak on just in case. Violet hair fell over his forehead, bouncing as he moved - he'd had it that colour since Ginny had mentioned it had been his mother's usual choice, earlier that summer. The twelve-year-old yawned, though he didn't really feel tired; there was a strange energy thrumming through his body, making him more alert and sending his senses into overdrive. Teddy had always been a night owl, but once every few weeks he was more drawn to the night than usual. He'd thought he'd been the only one, before Bill, Fleur and Victoire had visited for a couple of days, and Bill and Teddy had sat out in the back garden all night, gazing up at the fat full moon as though it might whisper to them. No words had broken the silence, but they hadn't needed any. 

     The Whomping Willow rose up before the boy as he approached it gingerly; some of the students liked to play a game in their free time, where they would try to touch the tree without getting caught - Teddy had seen them, dodging and screaming in amusement. Gryffindors, probably. Only Gryffindors would do that, his friend Alice had said. She'd been smiling wistfully as she'd said it, though.

     The tree looked different now, in the silvery moonlight, dark and calm and still. The leaves rustled gently in the light breeze, but other than that there was no movement. Did trees sleep? Maybe this one did. Teddy pulled off the invisibility cloak, glancing over his shoulder warily - no one was there. He stuffed the cloak into the pocket of his robes, which he had thrown on over his bright yellow pyjamas. At the movement, the tree seemed to shiver. Teddy tensed, but let out a breath of relief when the tree stilled. He wasn't sure why he was doing this - only Gryffindors would play this stupid game, right? But maybe it was only Gryffindor-ish to play the game when the tree was awake.

     Reasons aside, Teddy just wanted to be able to brag that he'd touched the tree without gaining some sort of disfigurement in the process. That would be cool - maybe he'd get a reputation as a badass.

     He approached the tree slowly, hazel eyes scanning over it. There was at least a minute of nervous inching forward, before the thought 'this is so easy' came to mind, and Teddy gave a small jog toward the trunk, filled with sudden, fleeting ease.

     And immediately grunted in pain as he was struck on the back by what must have been a huge branch, sending him flying directly at the trunk. The small boy landed in a heap on the thick roots of the tree, and he rolled onto his back just in time to see another branch flying at him. With a cry of fear he threw out a hand to protect his face and another behind him to brace against the ground and-

     Nothing happened.

     Lowering his hand, Teddy blinked up at the tree, which had once again become motionless. For a second he thought maybe he'd dreamed the movement in the first place, but the pain in his head told him that definitely wasn't the case. He lifted his hand from the ground, and felt something lift a little with it. Looking down, he could see a sort of knot, hidden in the mess of roots at the base of the trunk. That must have stopped the tree, he thought to himself. He doubted it would hold for long though, and he scrambled to his feet. Or, he tried. He stood on the end of his robes and stumbled sideways, grappling at the air clumsily as he fell into some sort of... Burrow? Lucky he fell when he did too, since he felt another branch whip past him just as he fell, missing his head by a millimeter and grazing his hair.

     Standing and rubbing his head with a soft whine, Teddy could see that it was more of a tunnel that he'd fallen into. He fumbled for his wand, muttering " _lumos_ " and letting the space before him fill with the light. Was this on the map? He didn't remember seeing it before. Maybe they hadn't gotten around to adding it? Or maybe they hadn't found this place - though from what he'd heard of the Marauders, he somehow doubted that. He glanced behind him, at the branches at were flailing at the tunnel's entrance. After a few seconds of deliberation, he gave a small, determined nod and set off.

 

By the time Teddy felt like he was even making any headway at all in the tunnel, he really was starting to feel drowsy. The thrumming energy was starting to siphon out of him, but his heart beat faster in anticipation as he seemed to be coming to the end of the tunnel. He'd have been lying if he said he wasn't scared, but he was also determined. No point in starting if he wasn't going to finish, after all.

     His feet hit wooden flooring, finally, and he blinked in surprise as he looked around - there was a door just behind him, he hadn't even noticed. Whoever had been here last had left it wide open, and he seemed now to be in some sort of house. It was very old, and very rickety, everything seeming to be some shade of grey - or maybe that was just the dust. It seemed to creak with every footstep Teddy took, and he made his way through the hallway nervously. He couldn't hear anything, apart from the house itself.

     It seemed like a miracle that the stairs didn't crumble away as he climbed them, but they appeared to be steadier than they looked. Halfway up, something caught Teddy's eye: a handprint. Faint, covered in several layers of dust, but definitely there. Lifting a hand and not realising until now that he was shaking a little - from the cold or from nerves, he couldn't tell - Teddy brushed the dust away carefully. The print was brown - paint? No... More like blood, probably - and it was small. A child's hand. Spreading his own fingers out beside it to compare, Teddy could see that it was just a little smaller than his own hand now. He wasn't entirely sure why his own blood was suddenly rushing in his eardrums and his heart pounded harder than before, but he tore his eyes from the print and continued upstairs.

     The bedroom was, well, decrepit. It clearly hadn't been used in a very long time, and everything seemed to be either covered in dust or moth-eaten, or both. Teddy wondered if there were any more prints - any other remnants of whoever had been here. The worn floorboards didn't make it very likely, but there was definitely more spatters of the browned, dried blood here and there. On one of the walls, on the dresser, some on the floor here and there. Teddy shivered, unable to help but check over his shoulder every couple of minutes as he looked through the room. Crouched and looking under the bed, he frowned; was he making it up, or could he see something, over on the floor on the other side of the bed, near the wall? With another wary glance over at the doorway - still empty - he straightened up and grabbed the bottom of the bedframe, pulling with a grunt. The bed was surprisingly heavy, but Teddy managed to heave it to the side a little. The sound of it grating on the floorboards made him wince.

     Lying on his stomach across the width of the bed, he could see the floor at the other side. He stared, unable to think for the seconds before the emotions came crashing in.

     These prints were obviously deliberate - dark and dried like the handprint, but these were from mud, not blood, and done in a row, like whoever they belonged to had left them here as a way of marking this place as theirs, forever. Or at least, for as long as the prints lasted. The first was tiny - so tiny that Teddy could barely make out that it was meant to be there. Then there was an almost oval-shaped one, a hoof. The paw beside it was pretty big, about the size of Teddy's palm, and a little messier. But the fourth print was the one that made the boy's heart stop. The fourth print, an enormous pawprint that was far too large to belong to any kind of dog. Where the claws were still defined in the print, where there must have been so much mud in the paw that it was preserved better than all the others. Teddy couldn't think of anyone else it could have belonged to.

     "Dad," he muttered, voice cracking. His eyes widened when he thought about what that meant, who the child's bloody handprint must have been. He knelt up on the bed suddenly, jerking away from the prints as though shocked, and looked around the room again. What looked like a pile of broken wood in the corner - that might have been a chair, or even a table, once upon a time. There was a large dent in the side of the ancient-looking wardrobe, as though something had thrown itself against it.

     How had he not seen the claw marks on the walls?

     Teddy gasped for breath at the sudden, almost overwhelming grief, unable to stop the hot, embarrassing tears that welled in his eyes and made their way down his cheeks.

     His father had been here, in this small, old room. A long time ago, yes, but he'd been here. He'd probably lain in this very bed. He'd changed in this room. He'd been in pain here, he had suffered here, but he'd known friendship here too. Hope. Once upon a time, this room had known the screams of his father, had known the footprints of his father, the voice and the face and the movements of him. This room probably knew this father better than Teddy ever felt he would. The thought only coaxed more tears from him, and he curled up on the thin, grimy bedsheets, trembling and wishing the pain in his chest, the one that felt like a hole had been punched out of him, would go away.

     For the first time in thirty one years, the full moon watched as a young Lupin passed out from exhaustion on the Shrieking Shack's bed.


End file.
